A bridge of magpies over the milky way
by la-perla's mermaid
Summary: A romantic oneshot based on the chinese version of valentine's day, wich is often celebrated around this time of the year. Po/Tigress


The quixi festival

Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, a festival is celebrated all throughout China, in commemoration of an epic forbidden love story between a weaver girl (symbolized by the star Vega) and a cowherd (symbolized by the star Altair). The stars, like the lovers of the legend, are separated by a silver river of celestial bodies (the milky way), but on this particular date, a bridge of magpies would allow the lovers to meet once more, just as on this particular date Altair and Vega would come as close as the night sky would ever allow

And just like the stars and the deities of the legend, the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress would build a bridge between them.

While the valley of piece celebrates the festival with music and art, with every single female showing off their homely talents, like dancing, singing and crafting. The hardcore Tigress kung fu master hones her technique in the training room, for her it is a day of peace and quiet since every other master is down in the valley celebrating.

For Po at first it was the complete opposite, during his childhood and teenage years he was more than happy to enjoy the party and the abundance of food while staring mesmerized at how the prettiest females in the valley danced or showed of their other talents, dreaming that one day the he would make one of them his spouse.

But as the years went by and he begun to excel at kung fu, he begun to wonder why had he accomplished so much in so many aspects in his life while romance was a subject in which he failed so much and so often. He would develop a crush on every female that treat him nicely, but in the end that only brought him trouble

Master Shifu warned him that the Dragon Warrior could never marry because if he did his wife would be in great danger by his ever growing list of enemies. Po once chose love over Kung fu and almost married a pretty sheep he was crushing on, but then realized it had all been a trap set by one of his enemies, that was the day when he realized that love was a weapon that could be used against him. Not that he would ever give up on love, he was told having a wife and being a master could never happen at the same time, but he had also been told that a clumsy fat panda could never be good at kung fu and as time went by they were proven wrong.

Yet every year the festival comes and goes and nothing ever changes, the pretty dancing females find their mates within the available males of the valley, but they never choose him. Eventually he realizes that love will find him, but probably not there, so one day he chose to not go and train with Tigress

As for the powerful feline she never cared about that silly festival anyway. Not even the masters know this but she had a privileged education, as it was expected of a warrior of her standing, master Shifu taught her not only kung fu but also music, poetry and art. Tigress had never been artistically inclined, but if she wanted to she could prove she was one the most skilled females on the whole valley, below Viper of course. But the festival is for vane girls who want to find a date, not an accomplished fighter tasked with protecting the city, so during that particular date she looks smugly from her place above the thousand steps at the party below as she practices in peace.

Until one year Po chose to skip the festival and train with her, she didn't care as long as he stayed out of her way and she had to admit he could be a very suitable sparring opponent when he isn't fooling around, he had acted so focused and serious the whole day that at some point she wondered if it was really Po the one she was fighting with. Looking into his big expressive eyes she could clearly see here was a hint of sadness in the usually happy and goofy panda.

After a long uneventful training session they finished the day by drinking tea and eating mooncakes while watching the fireworks at the distance. She might be terrible at dealing with her friend's feelings and all the deep heart talks, but she was even worse at letting her friends stew in their misery and not do anything about it. Soon the rest of the masters would come back and her chance to deal with whatever was troubling him would be gone, now was the time to figure out what's wrong.

-"Why didn't you go to the festival?"- She asked with the subtlety of a cannonball crashing over the ground

He tried a goofy fake grin as an answer but her intense golden eyes pierced his gaze, "Don't play dumb with me, just spill it" She didn't even have to say it, her stern expression was more vocal than any word

Sighing in defeat he slouched -" Whenever I go there I see all the pretty girls flirting with all the lucky guys they choose as their mates and somehow I know I will never be one of them. So what is the point?"-

-"Are you giving up on finding a mate?"- She said suspicious, giving up was not part of that insufferable panda's vocabulary.

-"No never. I'm gonna fall in love one day but if the festival was the right place to do that I would have found my mate in there already. What about you? don't you ever want to fall in love?"-

Looking at the pair of twinkling stars above her she smiled sadly -"No not really, but that's the thing I'm afraid, love doesn't care if you want it or not, it will strike you if it wants to or avoid you if you look for it."- The memory of Yijiro came to her mind, when she fell in love it was not something she planned it just happened, and just as it came it went away. -"Love does whatever it wants. you can't force it to do your bidding"- she said a bit melancholic.

-"Yeah but it's still worth it"- He said while pouring her more tea, his spirits now lifted after talking things out with a good friend.

The next year he skipped the festival again, a whole year had passed and Po hadn't found anyone to share his life with. This time Tigress knew this particular date made him sad so she chose to cheer him up in the only way she knew how, by showing him awesome brutal new fight moves and kicking his ass in the process, physical pain aside they both managed to have a good time.

Like the previous year they improvised a simple meal and rested from a hard day of training by drinking tea and watching the fireworks, a new tradition between the friends was now developing, but this time instead of sulking about his loneliness Po found the stars above him more interesting and used them as a distraction.

-"Will they ever meet? like, will they ever turn into one or will they always just be close without ever touching?"- Po asked while laying on his back and staring at the night sky, his tea cup perched above his fluffy belly.

-"I don't think so, they're just stars"- She scoffed and shook her head

-"But that's unfair, what about the weaver girl and the cowherd? Why are the gods so angry at them that they have to throw the entire milky way between them?"-

-"It's just a legend Po, don't overthink it"-

-"Legend or not it's still unfair"- She heard his voice shake and sniffed a little. Turning to see him she could notice in his expressive green eyes some unshed tears.

-"This isn't about the stars isn't it? What's really bothering you Po?"-

-"That I have no bridge of magpies to bind me to any girl, that I may end up alone like Master Shifu or…"- he trailed off and said the last part avoiding eye contact with her

-"Me?"- she asked with chagrin

-"Well you don't seem to mind"- He shrugged

-"I don't. The life of a warrior comes with many sacrifices, never having a married life is one of them, you should know this by now"- She scoffed petulant

-"What about love finding you even if you don't want it to?"-

-"I'm not looking for love Po, and unlike you I don't see it as the only feeling that could ever bring me joy. Love is a great weakness, of the type that the Dragon warrior of all people should stay away from, you should find a defense against it not searching for it"- Tigress crossed her arms and got up from her place near the peach tree, towering over him just like she used to when he first came to the palace

-"You know sourpuss? I'm gonna find someone, you'll see!"- He said angry and got up as well, so fast that he awkwardly stumbled over, had her paw didn't bring extra support he would have fallen right onto her.

She shrugged, whatever he did was none of her business. -"Be my guest, but if you end up bringing yet another criminal into the palace just because she flirted with you I'll make you pay for it."-

Their fight didn't last long, less than an hour later he was bringing her rose jam moon cakes and asking for a hug. He had found inner peace a few months prior with the defeat of lord Shen, that brought him enough wisdom not to value his pride over his friends. Casting a suspicious glance to make sure the other masters hadn't come back from the festival so nobody would see her, she shrugged and hugged him back.

Another year came and went, another Quixi festival brought joy to the valley. This time their training was a true show of technique, they were so evenly matched that their sparring looked more like a dance than a fight. During the past year Po had matured and Tigress had gotten more in contact with her emotions, some were bold enough to claim she had soften up. They had both improved in both their combat and spiritual skills after the defeat of Kai, being in contact with their chi enlightened them both.

As the festival nears its end and they indulge on their yearly ritual of staring at the stars while drinking tea, she notices he wasn't sad this time, he kinda looked determined.

-"We're just like those stars you know?"- Po mused while eating his rose jam mooncakes

-"Vega and Altair?"- She asked confused

-"Yeah, they grow far and they grow close but they never actually meet. There's like a whole silver river between them."-

-"If by silver river you mean clashing and opposing personalities the yeah I guess."- She didn't like where this was going, so she made it clear in her tone of voice that he better not think what he was thinking. The issue would be settled and no more dumb conversations about them dating would come up for the rest of the night.

But ever since then and for the rest of the year the subject would be discussed several times over.

The stars became a metaphor for their relationship, Po would say that the Milky way could be easily bridged while Tigress claimed that the silver river was too wide and the stars were too far apart. The rest of the masters couldn't understand why Tigress and Po developed so much of an interest in astronomy.

Now as june nears its end the Qixi festival once again looms over them. She knows Po is trying to give her a big romantic surprise on that day in an attempt to win her heart, could he really think she wouldn't notice the four masters plotting about flowers, lace and special mooncakes? If she were to say no this would be the time for her to tell him so, before he wastes all his romantic efforts and makes the fool of himself. But she wants to say yes, and she isn't patient enough to wait for a pre established date commanded by two capricious stars.

The night sky is clear, filled with combusting balls of fire that shine along the universe, above them the milky way streaks the sky like a silver river.

-"The stars look beautiful today"- She tells him as they come home from a mission, the others are preparing to sleep but he lingered by her side as she went towards the peach tree outside instead of heading towards her room.

-"Yup, Vega and Alistair are getting closer you know, maybe they'll manage to cross that river when the festival comes, I heard the magpies are gonna make an excellent bridge this year"- He said with a conspiratorial smile that wouldn't hide his giddy excitement.

Laughing and shaking her head she answered him -"There is no need for a bridge Po, the milky way was always in our heads."-

-"Huh?"- He said not really understanding her metaphor, even when the stars had been their secret code for almost a year, so to clarify her point she gave him a soft kiss on the lips and headed to her room. Leaving him confused and paralyzed below the peach tree.

After assimilating what had just happened he made a boisterous celebratory dance, this next festival would be awesome! Still he had been right love would not find him while attending that festival and she was right, love would find him not on a particular determined date but whenever it wanted to.

Above them the stars twinkle a little brighter, the milky way is covered by a thin cloud that crosses over it, connecting Alistair and Vega without the need of magpies.


End file.
